Author | Lightnews

Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 1d

My earlier substack on this: drkev.substack.com/p/uc-gives-a...

UC Gives Access to All Faculty Computers to the Trump Administration

In an era of federal investigation and prosecution of political opponents, UC hands the keys of faculty computers to the Trump administration.

drkev.substack.com

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 1d

The journal Science covers the UC spyware saga. The UC administrators’ policy assurances are like saying one does not have to lock one’s car because it is illegal for someone to steal the car or its contents. #highereducation 🧪⚛️🔭 #academicsky www.science.org/content/arti...

University of California faculty push back against Big Brother cybersecurity mandate

School officials defend software as bulwark against ransomware, but professors fear potential surveillance of their devices

www.science.org

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 3d

Democrats should be drawing up legislation right now, this very minute, to bar Trump from helping himself to $230 million in taxpayer funds from DOJ. Challenge Republicans to hold a vote on it. Push this so hard in the media that every GOP Senate and House candidate is pressed to comment on it.

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David Grinspoon @drfunkyspoon.bsky.social · 25d

“The Destruction of NASA’s Mission” Whistleblowers reveal OMB’s Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency

New from Committee on Commerce, Science, Transportation Ranking Member Maria Cantwell.

NOTE: This is indeed what I have seen going on inside NASA.
🧪🔭

www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

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Ty Ross @cooltxchick.bsky.social · 3d

I am literally fucking sick. This travesty of a President has literally, IS literally, destroying everything. Disgusting doesn’t even begin to describe it. Trump has taken apart every ounce of dignity, respect, history, and brick by brick foundation this country was built on and wanted to achieve

John Collins @logicallyjc.bsky.social · 4d

It’s so fucked up.
substack.com/@logicallyjc...

The People’s House Is Becoming a Party House

The East Wing of the White House is being torn down to make room for a ballroom.

substack.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 5d

Ooof

Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 5d

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was published OTD in 1953.

“Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord.”

#booksky 🐡

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60 Minutes @60minutes.bsky.social · 5d

“We found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said what the government is providing…false information. It might be intentionally false information, including false sworn declarations time and again," says Ryan Goodman, law professor at New York University.

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 4d

🔥 Climate change is making wildfire risks in Irvine very real. Join us Oct 30, 6–7:30 p.m. at City Hall for Wildfire Ready Irvine—learn how to harden your home & protect our community. RSVP: shorturl.at/Am72D

— Chair, Irvine Sustainability Commission

#Irvine #WildfireReady #ClimateAction

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Laurel Davila @laureldavilacpa.bsky.social · 6d

Whooooo hooo Newport Beach !!!!
#NoKings

Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 6d

#NOKINGS NEWPORT BEACH!

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 6d

#NOKINGS NEWPORT BEACH!

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 9d

This, among many things, bodes very badly for U.S. leadership in science, and, as you importantly put it, science as a human endeavor.

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 9d

Dept. of Energy dismantles High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, which advised & prioritized US particle physics for 58 years #particlephysics ⚛️🧪🔭 #cosmology

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:

During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭

Why that matters 🧵

DOE Consolidates Office of Science Advisory Committees

Six long-standing committees advising the Department of Energy’s Office of Science have been rolled into one.

www.aip.org

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

And I think it's important to say that this is not a problem that will be solved simply by every US-based physicist moving abroad. The amount of resources that the US has put into particle physics compared to the rest of the world means the rest of the world doesn't have the capacity to absorb. 🧪

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

I am also concerned about the fact that the formation of a new committee means that it will be comprised only of people who agreed to be appointed by the Trump administration. In the past, HEPAP has been comprised of people appointed at different times, often by different presidents. 🧪⚛️

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

It does not really make sense to have a single committee overseeing all of the areas of science that the Department of Energy covers. DOE does everything from nuclear weapons development to searching for dark matter, and there is little to no overlap in the expertise required for these (anymore). 🧪

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

DOE's public statements about this say that all the ad hoc committees, including HEPAP, will be replaced by a single committee. As an STS researcher, I am compelled to point out that this overlaps with the Nazi playbook for taking over German physics. My slides about how they did that:🧪⚛️🔭

APS April 2017.pdf

drive.google.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

I have not talked openly on social media about my work on HEPAP for various reasons, but now that my time officially as an appointee to HEPAP is over, I want to say that I think the end of HEPAP is an incredibly dangerous development for academic freedom in American science, esp HEP/astro. 🧪🔭⚛️

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 9d

SCIENCE POLICY NEWS:

During Yom Kippur, all the members of the High Energy Physics Advisory Committee (HEPAP), myself included, received a letter thanking us for our service and telling us essentially that the almost 40 yo standing federal advisory committee was no more. ⚛️🧪🔭

Why that matters 🧵

DOE Consolidates Office of Science Advisory Committees

Six long-standing committees advising the Department of Energy’s Office of Science have been rolled into one.

www.aip.org

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Reposted by Kev Abazajian

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 9d

Every time a Democrat says something Vance doesn’t like: “this is unacceptable hate speech”

When Republicans engage in actual hate speech: “boys will be boys, youthful indiscretion, what happened to your sense of humor?”

Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’

The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."

www.politico.com

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God @thegodpodcast.com · 14d

Imagine being mad you didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize while you’re busy stirring up Civil War in your own country.

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Jason Read @jasonread.bsky.social · 14d

The idea that universities should be neutral with respect to politics comes up against the limitation that politics is far from neutral when it comes to knowledge.

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 14d

It’s worth reading the full citation for today’s Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

Nobel Peace Prize 2025

The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transi...

www.nobelprize.org

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 14d

I’m sure you know this, but this was reported ‘Leaders of the Texas system were “honored” that the Austin campus was chosen to be a part of the compact and its “potential funding advantages,” according to a Thursday statement from Kevin Eltife, chair of the board of regents.’

USC faculty members denounce Trump compact that would shift university to the right

The USC Academic Senate held a special meeting to discuss the Trump administration's education compact, which was presented to the school last week.

www.latimes.com

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 14d

This is an op-ed from one of the framers of the Trump administration’s compact with universities. Regardless of whether one believes the litany of accusations the beginning, the idea of the compact and its mechanics are completely bad faith: [1/2]

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Badly Needed

www.nytimes.com

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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 15d

You. Do. Not. Try. To. Prove. Your. Hypothesis.

That is completely backwards.

The proper way to do science is to form a hypothesis, and then do everything you can to try and tear that hypothesis apart.

Any other way is scientifically unsound at the least, and malpractice or outright lies at worst

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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